Monday, September 9, 2013

Monday Made It: Interactive Notebook!

Happy Monday! Today starts our first full week of school and I am already exhausted, my house is flipped upside down (although I spent all weekend cleaning), but my plan book is jam packed leaving me ready for a productive week. I am happy to be linking up with  Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It!

I want to start off by letting everyone know, we've never used interactive notebooks before and in fact, we've never even heard of them before the BIG TpT BTS sale. We saw this gem on the top sellers list and figured we'd give it a go. Robyn and I both purchased a copy (Yes, we follow the rules and support our fellow TpT authors) and plan on trying it in our classrooms this year. Since we started off the school year working on strategies to help make inferences, we figured we'd first try the inferencing standard. I do like how there are actual pictures of each notebook page (so you can see what it is supposed to look like), I LOVE that students get a chance to color and create pieces of the notebook to make it more engaging and personal, and I also like that there are multiple copies on a page to cut down on the copying.  Since we have never done anything like this before I tried to go to Dollar Tree and grab some table caddies, like the millions I saw there earlier in the summer, but they were all sold out. There are two more Dollar Trees in the town I teach in and will check for them tomorrow. I want to be able to have a place for glue sticks, scissors, colored pencils...etc. at each table. It will create organization and save time on kids getting up out of their seats for materials.

This year we are trying something new in our schedule. We have a WIN block for enrichment while intervention students are pulled out. We thought the interactive notebook would be a great supplement for this time period. Robyn and I only have a few students leaving during this block and thought that if we did the interactive notebook during this block with the majority of the class, the next morning, at morning work time, would be a perfect time for a student leader to help the intervention students catch up in their notebooks. It's a Win/Win Win block situation...hahaha, well hopefully it will work out well this way. We'll let you know after this week!


So we set off today....printed....made copies...and got to work...



The students absolutely LOVED cutting, pasting, and coloring the pieces in their reading notebooks. I loved that the standard was written in student friendly language because it will be helpful and appealing to show parents at conferences next month.  The top section was too wide to fit on the notebook page, so I had to chop off the magnifying glass. We wrote an inferencing answer frame below the puzzle pieces so the students could refer back to it throughout the year. Tomorrow we are going to go on with our lesson reading Knots on a Counting Rope, practice the again and again strategy, and make inferences from the text.

I originally thought this interactive notebook would have more foldables involved, but this one does not. I plan on making some to add to the notebook. Other than that,  I am excited to continue to use this throughout the year.




15 comments:

  1. I get to start mine tomorrow! So excited!!!
    -Lisa
    Grade 4 Buzz

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  2. I'm finding that I am making my own foldables to add to my interactive notebooks too. I guess it is just a matter of preference. Your notebooks look great!

    Hunter's Teaching Tales
    Find me on Facebook

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  3. I am trying Interactive Notebooks with math this year but I may have to sneak in some of this reading, too!! My babies love making foldables and I would love to have more options to chose from!

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    1. Math must be fun for interactive notebooks! If you happen to see this, I couldn't email you back because your settings are set to "no reply!" It is an easy fix. Check out the directions: http://ideasbyjivey.blogspot.com/p/no-reply-blogger-no-more.html

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  4. This is my first year trying these too! I bought the same one for third grade.....we numbered the pages front and back and glued in all the standards...so that when I teach a standard, we can go to that page and then glue in our "stuff" the kids love them and all they have in them are the standards! Good luck! (I also am using spirals instead of comp notebooks!) cheaper!!!!

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    1. That's an awesome idea. If you happen to see this, I couldn't email you back because your settings are set to "no reply!" It is an easy fix. Check out the directions: http://ideasbyjivey.blogspot.com/p/no-reply-blogger-no-more.html

      Delete
  5. I have the same ones that you have and yes, a single copy doesn't fit in the notebook. On my printer though, I figured out that if I changed the settings to fit 2 per page it made it the perfect size (so instead of 5 headings there are 10 per page). Does this make sense? It is saving on copies too.

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  6. I found shower caddies at Walmart that I use for my table supplies. They were really cheap and work extremely well.

    Janie
    http://janiefahey.edublogs.org/
    Are We There Yet?

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  7. I have heard a few others mention interactive notebooks before. I can't wait to read more post about them. They sound like a great idea.

    Jamie

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  8. I bought the language arts version of this journal, for both 3rd and 4th grade. So far my class is really liking it. They think it's fun to color the pages.

    Ali
    Teaching Powered by Caffeine

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  9. I'm loving all the great work that your students are already creating in their Interactive Notebooks! Looking forward to seeing more soon!

    Flippables will definitely make it more interesting.

    Jennifer Smith-Sloane
    4mulaFun

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  10. I also started useing interactive notebooks this year. So far my kiddos are enjoying them. I actually had a hard time getting them to stop so we could make it to specials on time! At first they were confused but once they caught on they were hooked.

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  11. These notebooks sound wonderful! I went to her TpT store and she doesn't have 1st Grade.. :( I am definitely going to have to check these out more and look for some that are perfect for firsties! They sound wonderful for the enrichment group I teach during RTI. Thank you so much for sharing!

    I found your blog on the Monday Made It Linky..then I realized we follow each other on Instagram! I am also your newest blog follower!

    Beth :)
    A Kindergarten Life For Me

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  12. I haven’t any word to appreciate this post.....Really i am impressed from this post....the person who create this post it was a great human..thanks for shared this with us. customised notebook singapore

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